Air conditioning apparatus



July 29, 1941. A. WEILAND ETAL AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Original Filed June 11, 19 36 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR A. WEILHND ATTORNEY y 1941 A. WElLAND ETAL 2,250,978

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS I Original Filed June 11', 1936 s Sheei-Sheet 2 INVENTOR PL WEILHND ATTOR N EY July 29, 1941. A. WEILAND EI'AL 2,250,978

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Original Filed June 11 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented July 29, 1941 AIRCONDITIONmG APPARATUS Alfred Welland, Philadelphia, Pa., .and Joseph R. -Zwickl, East Orange, N. 1., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Allin B. Crouch, Schenectady,

N. E, as trustee Original application June 11, 1936, Serial No.

Divided and this application November so, 1938, Serial No. 243,160

' 8 Claims. (01. 62-140) This invention relates generally to air-conditioning apparatus-of the type employing a reirigerating system and more particularly to improved condensate disposal means, this application being'a division of 'our application Serial No. 84,758, filed June 11, 1936, now Patent No. 2,185,387, issued -January 2, 1940.

It is an object of our invention to provide in a room cooler unit improved means for disposing of water condensed on the evaporator surface during flow of' enclosure air. thereover. -A further object is to provide improved means for collecting condensate from theevaporator and disposingof it in an improved manner-in a path of outside air which is preferably circulated inwardly through a window and thence over anair cooled condenser and outwardly through the window to the outside atmosphere.

In disposing of condensate in air conditioning apparatus it is desirable 'for most efficient operation to be able to take care of variable quantities of water, this variable factor extending from zero to a maximum. Hence, it is necessary that the condensate disposal means should be equally eflicient throughout such variable conditions of operation and without imposing undue restrictions in the air flow through the unit but at the same time taking full advantage of such air flow for entraining' the water in the air and carrying such entrained moisture to the outside. To accomplish the foregoing objects we have in one specific aspect of the invention provided a series of slightly inclined baflles in the air ducts beneath the complementary heat exchange elements such as the condenser and evaporator and form a trough at the lower edge of each baille so as to discharge the condensate into collection chambers at one side of the ducts, these collection chambers preferably being formed by bending one of the terminal portions of the fan scroll toward a back sheet. This reversely bent portion of each fan scroll thus functions not only as a condensate receptacle or chamber but also as a cut-off for the normal flow of air discharging from the fan scroll into the duct. Hence the receptacle does not take up any space within the flow passage itself and yet adequately communicates with the baflie troughs is an eflicient and simple manner. In another aspect of the improved condensate disposal means, absorbent or porous pads are placed on top of the condenser fins and held in direct'contact therewith by suitable elongated caps which also function as receivers for condensate pumped thereto from the liquid collection chambers above mentioned,

Other objects and advantages will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a unit with certain parts omitted and broken away to show in particular the condensate disposal elements and their relation to the other elements of the unit;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective of the condensate collecting and disposal elements isolated from the unit to show their operative relationship;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective ofa' portion of the condensate absorbing material and of the structure for pressing the absorbing material into contact with the condenser fins to form a liquid receiving chamber above the absorbing material.

In the particular embodiment of the invention which is disclosed herein merely for the purpose of illustrating one specific form among possible others that the invention might take in practice,

we have shown in Fig. 1 a self-contained unit' having front and back walls 2- and 3 and end walls 4 and 5 while a suitable type cover, not shown, is supported on said walls. An opening 6 is provided in the back wall 3 to receive an inlet air duct 1 and an outlet duct 8. 0n the condenser side of the unit outside air flows inwardly through duct 1 and over a motor-compressor unit 9 and thence inwardly through axial inlet H) of a blower II to be circulated upwardly through a condenser passage l2 and over a condenser l3 through passage 8 to the outside. On the evaporator side of the unit enclosure air such as from a room flows inwardly through an inlet it of a blower I5 and thence upwardly through a passage IS and over an evaporator i1 to the room.

Circulation of room air from evaporator ll causes condensation of the moisture on the evaporator il. To collect the condensate as it drips from evaporator I1 and at the same time mini.- mize resistance to the air flow through the ducts, we "provide a series of transversely disposed baiiies 20 of appreciable vertical extent compared with the relatively narrow width of flange troughs 2| formed along the lower edge of each baflle. The upper edges of the baiiles, however, overlie or overlap the troughs 2| to prevent the possibility of water dripping into the fan scroll. It will also be noted from-Fig. 1 that the upper edge 22 of an end plate 23 of duct I6 is adapted to cooperate with the lower end of the inclined wall 24 and form a trough to catch water that flows down along the inclined wall 24. These babies at theirforward ends abut against or are permanently secured to the front duct sheet 25, Fig. 1,'while the rear ends of the bailles rest upon a reversely bent or hollow fan cut-off 28 and are disposed in spaced relation to the rear wall 23 to permit water in the series of troughs 2| to accumulate in a liquid chamber 29. The troughs may if desired be slightly inclined downwardly to insure rapid discharge of water from the troughs into the chamber. A similar trough and baiiie construction is employed in the condenser duct as generally respectively indicated at 30. Fig. 3 and 3i, Fig. l. The construction of the bailles and trough for the condenser duct is identical to those of the evaporator duct and hence further description is not necessary.

The chambers 32 and 29, Fig. 3, are connected by a pipe 33, Fig. 3, while the chamber 29 is connected at, its lowermost point by a pipe .34 to the inlet side of a' rotary pump 35. This pump is preferably directly connected to the fan rotor shaft 36 and is supported by the blower end wall 4 or inlet guide 31 through a series of radial arms 33. Pump 35 discharges through a pipe 39 extending across and then upwardly as at 40 for connection to an improved condensate distributing means generally indicated at 4|. This condensate distributing means includes a pair of absorbent pads 44 pressed into firm contact with the top edges of condenser flns 45. To provide the necessary holding pressure and at the same time distribute the water over the pads, a pair of longitudinally elongated inverted channel members 46, Fig. 4, overlie and engage each pad.

These members may be suitably soldered, clamped or otherwise held down and their ends are closed to retain water therein. The water is circulated in a series path through the channels 48 by a pipe 41 which communicates with the forward channel 46 through an opening 48 while the other ends ofthe channels are interconnected by a pipe 49 through openings 50. Thus water flows through pipe 41 and first enters the forward channel through opening 48 and then flows around to the other channel. The upward flow of hot con-'- denser air over the moistened pad causes the water to evaporate rapidly, this being augmented by the transfer of heat from the condenser fins to the pads through the direct pressure contact therewith together with the action of the pump 35 in continuously forcing water to the exposed other and from the surface of the pads regardless of the rate of,

evaporation so as to positively wet the absorbent material. Thus the pads operate with a high degree of efllciency at all times. Also the holding pressure on the pads insures that any excess liquid will be discharged directly in contact with the fin surface. However, any condensate that may by chance drip over the condenser fins will be either evaporated by the condenser heat or be caught by the wall 5|, Fig. 1, or by baflles 3| to flow into chamber 32 and thence through pipe 33 to chamber 29 and pipe 34 to pump 35 and thereby be recirculated. It is found that the foregoing condensate disposal system is extremely effective in quickly disposing of appreciable quantities of condensate with minimum resistance to the air flow, the pump becoming automatically primed upon the presence of any condensate. In the event of no condensate being present, the pump will idly rotate.

From all of the foregoing disclosure it is seen that we have provided a comparatively simple and compact construction that i economical in aasopve manufacture and maintenance and is efficient in operation so as to permit maximum condensate dispom without unduly interfering with the air circulation for a given size unit while at the sa-me time permitting the parts to be readily accessible.

It will of course be understood that various changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a self-contained-room cooler unit having ducts provided with complementary heat ra change elements and said ducts respectively having means associated therewith for circulating outside air over one of said elements and room air over the other, in combination, aseries of overlapping bailles extending in a generally vertical direction and disposed in one of said ducts between the air circulating means and the heat exchange element which is associated with said duct. the lower edge of each baiiie forming a trough and said baflles being spaced from each battles are disposed whereby the air flows over both sides of each bailie, means forming liquid receptacles at one end of the series of troughs formed by the edges of the baflles, one of said ducts having a bottom wall disposed beneath said last mentioned heat exchange element and adapted to intercept condensate dripping therefrom, and means forming a substantially vertical baiile extending transversely for the full width of said last mentioned duct and cooperating with said bottom wall to form a trough having communication with said liquid receptacles.

2. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, condenser and evaporator elements; means for circulating separate air streams over said elements; means for collecting condensate from the evaporator side; and means for disposing of the collected condensate into the path of air flowing 1 over said condenser including liquid absorbent material, and means for pressing said material against the surface of said condenser and also providing a chamber to receive condensate from said collecting means to wet the absorbent material.

3. The combinatiolrset forth in claim 2 further characterized in that there is provided a plurality of said absorbing means and receiving chambers connected in series.

4. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, condenser and evaporator elements; means for circulating separate air streams over said elements, means for collecting condensate from the evaporator side, and means for disposing of the collected condensate into the path of air flowing over said condenser including condensate absorbent material, means for pressing said material against the surface of said condenser and providing a liquid chamber adjacent the surface of said material, and pumping means for supplying condensate to said chamber so as to positively wet said absorbent material.

5. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, condenser and evaporator elements; means for circulating separate air streams over said elements, means for collecting condensate from the evaporator side, and means for disposing of the collected condensate into the path of air flowing over said condenser including condensate absorbent material, means providing a chamber one side of which is formed by said absorbent material, and means for forcibly supplying condensate walls of the duct in which the to said chamber so as to wet said absorbent mate- 4 rial.

6. A room coolerunit comprising, in combination, condenser and evaporator elements; means for circulating separate air streams over said elements, means for collecting condensate from the evaporator side, and means for disposing of the collected condensate into the path of air flowing over said condenser including porous material through which the condensate can pass and over the surface of which the condenser air flows, means providing a chamber one side of which is formed by said material, and forcible means for supplying condensate to said chamber to bring the liquid into contact with said material whereby the condensate passes through said material to be evaporated by the condenser air.

7. An air conditioning unit comprising an evaporator, a duct and fan scroll and a blower rotor therein for circulating air over said evaporator, means for collecting condensate from said evaporator including a hollow cut-oil member disposed along one side of said scroll axially thereof for directing air outwardly from said scroll to said duct, the hollow portion of said outoff member having communication with said duct to receive condensate therefrom, and means for carrying condensate away from said hollow cutofi member.

8. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, condenser and evaporator elements; means for circulating separate air streams over said elements; means for collecting condensate irom the evaporator side; and means for disposing of the collected condensate into the path of air flowing over said condenser including a member through which water may pass while maintaining an exposed surface of the member in a wetted condition, and means for pressing said member against the surface of said condenser and also providing a chamber to receive condensate from said collecting means to wet said member.

ALFRED WEILAND. J. R. ZWICKL. 

